


Patterned Rug

by StarboyShippingHell



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Absent John Winchester, Bittersweet, If Supernatural (TV) Were on HBO, Kid Dean Winchester, Kid Sam Winchester, Not Beta Read, Parental Bobby Singer, Pre-Canon, Protective Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester's Terrible Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarboyShippingHell/pseuds/StarboyShippingHell
Summary: Dean had the idea to make a blanket fort in the spare room, its all going right up until it isn't.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Patterned Rug

**Author's Note:**

> The fact that the tag "Sam Winchester's Terrible Life" is a thing makes me sad but this isn't an angsty story! It's more of a HBO!AU from tumblr take on Sams life with demon blood. I adore this au so much, it fills the hole in my heart the real thing left :')

Sam got stuck in a devil’s trap for the first time when he was a kid, too young to even really understand monsters or demons or any of it when John left them at Bobby's for a couple of weeks. They've stayed there before many times and everything is was going smoothly, there had only been one mishap that was solved with a batman Band-Aid and an ice pop. The day had gone by slowly as rain poured outside but the boys didn't mind, they busied themselves inside with roughhousing and made up games spawned by the days they spent on the road.

It was getting later, the sky getting darker and Bobby was finishing up his last page of translations when the incident occurred. Dean had the idea to make a blanket fort in the spare room which they had been gathering every soft thing they could find to create it, originally planning to show Bobby their work after it was done. They had laid anything they didn’t want to wrap themselves in out as the ‘floor’ which had included a rug neither of the boys knew was a devils trap, Dean had just thought it looked cool. When they went to admire their work from inside, under the pinned in place sheet that functioned as the ‘roof’ Sam sat right in the center of the rug in one jump. They both agreed it was suitable for Bobby’s viewing and were ready to go get him when Sam realized he was stuck.

Not only was he stuck where he sat but he couldn't move much more than a struggle against invisible chains that held him there. Dean thought Sam was messing with him, giggling up until he saw how Sam’s face had dropped and his eyes were tearing up. Big brother instincts had Dean moving before he could think, stepping towards the trap only for Sam to cry out like he was hurt. Neither of them understood how the devil’s trap worked or why he was stuck but poor little Sammy didnt want Dean stuck with him. The cry alerted Bobby downstairs who came running up the stairs loudly calling out to the boys. 

Sam was sobbing. He choked out broken little gasps unable to form words but Dean spoke for him, yelling louder than he needed. “Bobby I don’t know what happened! Sammy can’t move something is holding him!” 

The first thought Bobby had seeing Sam stuck in the devil’s trap was possession but something in how he was crying so genuinely struggling against it made Bobby less sure. He wouldn’t risk it though and while trying to calm the boys with a hushed voice he handed Sam his flask of holy water, assuring the wide-eyed boy it was just water and not ‘adult drink’. Sam took a drink after a few even breaths and only made a face, commenting on how it ‘tasted tingly’ but not burning foaming out of his mouth while his insides burn as demons react. 

Bobby looked between the boys running different possibilities through his head, what was happening, and what could go wrong before deciding and pulling out his knife. Sam looked even more scared if that was possible and held his breath, bracing for the knife to be used on him. Dean started to panic again but Bobby lowered the knife and cut through the rug with a few harsh cuts scraping the floor underneath it, breaking the trap. As soon as he was free Sam ran to Dean, grabbing at him with a fresh round of sobs he muffled against his brother’s shirt. 

They all swore not to tell John after Bobby explained to the boys in half-truths and straight-up lies that the trap shouldn't have caught Sam but that sometimes it didn't work right and warned him that it could happen again. Bobby scribbled down the trap and handed it to the older Winchester telling him to keep his little brother out of the traps. Sam didn’t stop crying until it tired him out, curled up against Dean sharing the couch and a blanket. 

Dean was still awake, having listened to the words Bobby said while staring at the trap as if he was trying to remember each little line. When Sam started softly snoring Dean asked in a hushed voice, eyes finally leaving the paper, “Is Sammy a monster?”

Bobby didn’t know how to answer that. He had lied to the boys for the past hours but that seemed impossible to answer dishonestly. Just as quietly as Dean he asked, “Do you think Sammy is a monster?”

“No,” Dean sounded sure but was quiet for a moment. “I wouldn’t kill him if he was."

Neither of them said a word after that, sitting in silence up until the point Bobby left for bed, stopping to tell Dean goodnight. He didnt reply, already asleep with Sam held as close as possible. 

“I wouldn’t either,” Bobby whispered staring at the boys, an ache deep inside knowing how dangerously true that was.

John came back a few days later and just as promised no one mentioned what had happened. Bobby didn’t want to let the boys go but had no other choice, hugging them before they got in the impala fighting back tears. He told John to look out for them and waved as they drove off, assuming it would be a while before he saw his boys again.


End file.
